The United States denied Wednesday a claim by an IDF official that U.S.-supplied armored vehicles seen being operated by Hezbollah in Syria had been given to the group by Lebanon's official army.
Last month, footage emerged of Hezbollah fighters operating M113 armored personnel carriers in Syria, where the group, which is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, is fighting in support of Bashar Al-Assad's regime.
On Wednesday, a senior IDF official speaking on condition of anonymity said Israel believes these vehicles were drawn from stocks supplied by Washington to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
In Washington, however, State Department spokesman John Kirby said American officials have investigated and do not believe that Lebanon has violated its agreement not to transfer on U.S.-supplied equipment.
"When this allegation was raised in November, the Department of Defense did a structural analysis of the armored personnel carriers in question at that time and concluded that these vehicles were not from the Lebanese Armed Forces. Our assessment remains the same now," Kirby told AFP.
"As we noted when this first came up, the Lebanese Armed Forces stated publicly that the vehicles depicted online were never part of their equipment roster," he added.
"The LAF fully complies with end use monitoring requirements, continues to have an exemplary track record with U.S. equipment and remains a valued partner in the fight against ISIL and other extremists," said Kirby, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.
The United States supplies Lebanon's official army with arms on condition they are for official use and would be obliged to review military ties if it were proved the APCs ended up in Hezbollah's hands.
Washington has in recent years regularly imposed sanctions on members of Hezbollah.
Among others, it has imposed sanctions on the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and two other members of the organization, for their alleged role in aiding the Syrian government in its crackdown on opposition forces.
Last December, the House of Representatives approved legislation that would enhance sanctions against Hezbollah and its supporters.
Most recently, American sanctions targeted four people believed to be financiers of the terrorist group.
Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge told AFP on Wednesday that Hezbollah does indeed have a "small number" of M113 armored personnel carriers in its inventory.
"They've had them for a number of years," Trowbridge said. "They could have come from a variety of sources because it's a relatively common vehicle in the region."
Neither U.S. spokesman said where Hezbollah's M113s might have come from if not from the Lebanese army.
Earlier, the IDF official told reporters that Israeli intelligence had "recognized these specific APCs... as those given by the U.S. to Lebanon".
He said new information had been shared with the United States "a few weeks ago" but did not specify how many armored personnel carriers were involved.
The source also indicated at the same press briefing that the defense establishment estimates that "the chances of the outbreak of war in 2017 are slim."
He added that both the Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza have no interest in opening a front with Israel at present.
AFP contributed to this report.